Skuzzle's empulse E1 has arrived

[skuzzle]

Picked up my new Empulse yesterday.  Unfortunately it rained during the ride home so it's already dirty.  I need to improve on my shifting.  Going up is easy, but down seems a little strange.  First work commute, 21.5 miles, was done with 68% charge remaining.  I will post more info when I get past the first 150 mile break-in.

[frodus]

Nice! Glad you got one. We need to go on a ride sometime.

Want to join OEVA.org? It's the EV club here in Portland. Would be great to have another there.

So did riding mine seal the deal?

[oml]

congratz. which number were you?

E1 looks quite nice in real life pictures.

imho the nonpolished (matt? dont know the word) black plastic suits her much better, looks much more reserved, humble, british gentleman style.


remember skuzzle: more pictures > less pictures

[protomech]

"matte" is correct. I agree about preferring an understated look.

Skuzzle, do you know if you have the first production E1?

[skuzzle]

congratz. which number were you?

Thanks.  I think my number was 207.  My initial preorder was made July 30, 2010.

Nice! Glad you got one. We need to go on a ride sometime.

Want to join OEVA.org? It's the EV club here in Portland. Would be great to have another there.

So did riding mine seal the deal?

Thanks.  The EV club sounds interesting.  You can tell my about when we meet for lunch again.

Yes, I was on the fence before riding your bike.  Of course mine has a different motor.  It seems good enough for now.  It will only get better once I pass the two break in periods.

Skuzzle, do you know if you have the first production E1?

I don't think so.  I thought EmpulseBuyer's Empulse is a E1 as well.

I should have an attached picture of the new Empulse in the garage next to my old Vstrom 650.  It sure looks small.

[protomech]

He definitely has an Empulse R.

http://www.empulsebuyer.com/?p=1243

Ebikes are pretty amazingly narrow.

[EmpulseRider]

Yeah, I got an R. Brammo spoiled me... I feel I really need to pay them back somehow. So attending events is probably the best way to do that.

Anyway, congrats on the new whip skuzzle! Very nice!

Bummer about the rain right out of the gates. Mine hasnt been rained on yet simply because I cant take it anywhere with temp tags... I was supposed to get them today, but its looking like tomorrow at the soonest. I already told myself I was riding in to work tomorrow regardless. The Empulse draws so much attention that im damn near guaranteed to get pulled over though... thankfully I managed to get insurance at least.

[skuzzle]

Mine hasn't been rained on yet simply because I cant take it anywhere with temp tags... I was supposed to get them today, but its looking like tomorrow at the soonest.

I just stick all of the paperwork in my motorcycle jacket and go without plates here in Oregon.  I've been pulled over once in the past, but they understand that there isn't a really good place to stick a temporary license.  (The temp would just get stolen anyway!)  Plus it gives them a good reason to pull you over and ask about the Empulse 

[skuzzle]

Charging up the Empulse at Walgreens.  The station looked like it had a spot for a RFID credit card, which I didn't use.  It didn't charge (no pun intended) anything, although I only got about a 1/3 of a kilowatt.  Just wanted to see if it worked.  I did buy a pack of lifesavers to show my support.

[flar]

You're lucky - all the Walgreens around here charge $2/hour - via Chargepoint...

[protomech]

Whenever I go out to eat, I scout around the restaurant to see whether they have an external 110V outlet. When I go inside I ask them if it would be okay if I plugged in, in the future.

I've never had someone say no if there was an outlet available.

It's not a fancy schmancy J1772 plug, but we don't have many of those in Huntsville yet : )

[Richard230]

Speaking about charging EV's, I just heard this morning on the news that a legislator in CA has introduced a bill that would allow EV's to charge up at public charging stations without first needing to join a co-op or other organization.  The bill would require that all public charging stations accept standard credit or debit cards for payment from anyone that wanted to use the station.  Sort of like what you can do with parking meters in San Francisco.  (They take anything, including every coin that you have in your pants pocket and whatever they can get out of your credit and debit cards and smart phone.    )